The Great Distance
by neon maverick
Summary: Troy and Chad are building a tree house for the gang to all hang out together in. Chad forgets to fix it together properly and the whole thing comes crashing down. Will the guys survive?
1. Prologue

**Summary: Troy and Chad are building a tree house for the gang to all hang out together in. Chad forgets to fix it together properly and the whole thing comes crashing down. Will the guys survive? **

'I can't believe you dragged me into this, Troy.' Gabriella groaned as she carried his toolbox down to the garden.

'Hey, at least you don't have to stay in the bloody thing all day.' Troy said, gesturing for Chad to bring the pieces of wood over.

'Yes, but I do have to wait on you hand and foot.' Gabriella said, placing the toolbox on the ground and opening it up.

'Oh come on, Gabi, you know I love you for it.' Troy said, taking one of the four wooden walls from Chad and placing it against his garden fence.

'You should love me anyway, mister.' Gabriella said, poking his chest.

'I should, should I?' Troy said, suddenly in a flirty mood.

He placed a hand on her back and leaned her backwards, supporting her as their lips met. 'Okay, guys! Gross.' Troy dropped Gabriella in surprise.

'Chad!' Troy said, helping Gabriella up.

'Well, seriously, yuck.' Chad said, shaking his head.

'Your vocabulary leaves something to be desired, Chad.' Gabriella said, as Troy helped to brush her down.

Troy laughed, and Chad joined in. 'Thanks for that, Gabriella.'

Gabriella smiled sweetly. 'Pleasure.'

* * *

'Hand me two nails, Gabs.' Chad shouted, and Gabriella stretched, giving him the two nails he needed.

'Hey, Gabi, I think we have some chips in the kitchen. Can you go get them?' Troy yelled from above.

'What's the magic word?' Gabriella said in a sing-song voice.

'…Please?' Troy said, grinning.

'Sure.' Gabriella walked off inside Troy's kitchen.

Chad hit the nail one more time, assuming it was steady. 'Troy, I'm coming up.'

'Okay, dude!' Troy shouted back.

The nail started to edge its way out of its hole as Chad climbed up. The minute he got in, the new weight was too much for it to handle and it slid out. And when one piece of something is missing, a whole mountain is liable to come crashing down.

Literally.

**As I said before, I think you guys have actually lost interest, but I like writing. So if you do read this story, please review, cos I really wanna know what you think, whether I should continue, stuff like that. **


	2. Emotions Taking Over

'Chips, chips, chips.' Gabriella murmured to herself. 'Aha!' she exclaimed, grabbing the china bowl on the side.

She tucked a stray hair behind her ear and started to walk back outside. 'I'm pretty sure these are the ones you were talking about…' She looked up and saw the splintered wood that scattered the ground. She was numb to the smashing of the china bowl as she dropped it in shock. 'Troy! Chad!' she screamed, running forward.

She started digging through the wood, cutting herself on various nails and splintering her hands. She fell to her knees, as she found a darker skinned hand. 'Chad…' she whispered, throwing the pieces of wood away. She eventually got to him, dragging him out of the mess, and checking his pulse. It was there, but it might be gone by the time she got back to him. She dug through his pocket to find his cell phone, which was scratched slightly, but otherwise unharmed. She called 911, checking him for serious external injuries. She found a few quite serious ones, but she knew she had to find her boyfriend.

She turned back to the wood, looking at her throbbing hands. She breathed deeply and started to go through it again. After a few seconds, she found blood on her hand, and she knew it wasn't hers. 'Troy! Troy?' There was no answer, and as Gabriella searched she came across a face, and started to cry; she wasn't sure whether it was in joy or sadness. She brushed all the rubbish off of him, and looked at his innocent face. He was pale, bruised, with blood pouring down the side of his cheek from a gash on his head, blood soaked his hair, his clothes, overall he looked half-dead. She rested his head on her lap and put a cool hand on his cheek, resting it on his bloody face, the crimson red liquid imprinting on her hand.

'Oh, God, Troy, wake up…'

There was a shout from the front of the house. 'Hello?! Is anyone there? It's the emergency paramedics!'

Gabriella looked up and edged Troy's head off her lap, easing it off slowly, careful not to hurt him anymore. She glanced at Chad as she got up and opened the back gate, seeing the paramedics. 'In here.' She said, letting them rush in.

'What happened?' One said, rushing to Chad.

'I guess the tree house fell, I wasn't there.' Gabriella said. She'd lost all feeling in her hands.

Another two rushed to Troy, looking very concerned. This just made Gabriella cry more. A female paramedic held the young girl's hands in hers. 'Let's get you to the ambulance, sweetheart. Those could get infected.'

Gabriella reached out to her boyfriend. 'But, my Troy…' The paramedic smiled at how close they were, but still led her away, using a hand to cup her face away from trauma. She sat Gabriella in the ambulance, taking an ice bag and wrapping her fingers and hands in it. 'There. Try not to worry.'

Gabriella looked up, wanting to yell at her. _"How can you even say that?!" _would be what she'd want to say to her.

Suddenly, a stretcher was carried in holding Chad. 'Is he gonna be alright?'

No-on answered; she didn't know whether it was because she was getting in the way or they were just too busy. Another stretcher was carried on, with her boyfriend on it. Gabriella cringed at the sight of him and started breathing deeply. 'I think she's in shock. Oxygen.'

Gabriella was oblivious to the paramedic fixing a mask onto her face and placed Gabriella's hand onto it to keep it in place.

* * *

'Gabriella!' Sharpay, Ryan, Zeke, Jason and Taylor all came rushing up to her. Sharpay looked at her hands with the ice bag on them. 'What happened?' she said, easing the ice bag off. Everyone gasped at the state of her hands and Ryan took the ice bag and quickly placed it back on.

'Why did you leave him?!' Taylor yelled at Gabriella.

'Him? Taylor, Troy was in there too. And it's not Gabi's fault.' Sharpay said, placing an arm round Gabriella's shoulders.

'Chad is my boyfriend. I want him to be alright!' Taylor practically screamed.

'Taylor, I want Troy to be alright too. We just have to hope.' Gabriella said, touching her friend's shoulder.

'I don't give a toss about hoping…or Troy, for that matter.' Gabriella's eyes widened, but she couldn't be bothered to argue. Taylor pushed her hand off. 'If you hadn't left Chad, we wouldn't be in this mess.'

Sharpay's eyes burned with anger. 'Taylor, how dare you! Gabriella was the only one of us who actually agreed to help the guys, and you're _blaming _her?! If she hadn't left _them_, then the tree house probably would have fallen on her, and we'd have three casualties right now, not _two_.' Sharpay put emphasis on _them _and _two _just to show Taylor she wasn't the only one affected by the accident.

'It's not my fault.' Taylor whined.

'It's just as much your fault as it is Gabi's…or mine, or Ryan's, or Zeke's, or Jason's or even Chad and Troy's…because it's not _anyone's _fault. So stop dumping this all on Gabi.' Sharpay said, leading her, now crying, best friend into a corner.

'It's okay, Gabriella, they'll be okay.' She whispered. 'Taylor's just being a bitch; she doesn't mean it.'

Gabriella looked up at her blonde best friend, fresh tears leaking from her eyes. 'Then why do I feel so guilty?'

**For some reason I've had this on my computer for quite a long time and realised I needed to finish it. Then I found it was already finished. Oops. Anyway, please review. **


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